


Take me out, take me home

by Etoile_Filante



Series: Fairgame Week 2020 [3]
Category: RWBY
Genre: Adoption, Cute Kids, Established Relationship, Family, M/M, Married Couple, Original Character(s), fairgameweek2020
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-18
Updated: 2020-03-18
Packaged: 2021-02-28 18:27:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,170
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23201689
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Etoile_Filante/pseuds/Etoile_Filante
Summary: Fairgame Week 2020, day 3 : FamilyQrow and Clover have been married for over a year and life has been good. But now, they are ready for the next step.
Relationships: Qrow Branwen/Clover Ebi
Series: Fairgame Week 2020 [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1665862
Comments: 4
Kudos: 45





	Take me out, take me home

**Author's Note:**

> Hey there!  
> This fic takes place after the previous two ("Cruel Summer" and "I like shiny things") from the same serie but can be read as a stand-alone!  
> Basically after Salem was defeated Qrow and Clover stayed in Atlas for a few years to help General Schnee rebuild everything. But now they've moved on!  
> Please keep in mind that English is not my mother-tongue. I hope you enjoy!

“I hope she’ll like us…”

“She will, Lucky Charm.”

“But what if she doesn’t.”

“Then we make sure to keep the receipt and return her.”

“QROW!”

“WHAT? You asked!”

Shaking his head, Clover tried to suppress his smile and turned around to look at their son, Ciel, sitting in the back of the car, lost in a book.

“Ciel, put the book down, you’ll hurt your head.”

“I woon’t.” whined the 11 years old, eyes not moving from the page he was currently reading. “And if I do, I’ll blame it on you and papa’s shouting.”

Clover sat back in his seat and glanced at Qrow who took his eyes of the road just a second to meet his gaze and smiled softly at his husband, the shiny ring on his finger sending rainbow spots on the car’s roof. Ciel had come a long way from a very very shy kid to a still shy but actually quite energetic kid. They had found him in Atlas 2 years ago, right before they left, their mission done and their new status as fiancés calling for something calmer than Atlas. Heading for a restaurant as their last date in Atlas, they had stumbled upon a nine-year old child that had been crying on the sidewalk with a torn shoe in his hand. They had quickly discovered that he had been orphaned by the war a couple of years ago and now lived in an orphanage. Bullied for his little mouse ears by the handlers and the other children, he was scared to death about going back with a damaged piece of clothing. 

Long story short, Qrow has a soft spot for children and Clover couldn’t say no to him. And their cat, Cookie, liked him as well.

But now, having turned 42 years-old a few months ago, Clover wanted more. He had been a bit nervous about bringing up the subject of another child to his husband but had been delighted when Qrow agreed, a smile on his face. Announcing it to Ciel had been uneventful, the 10-year-old just asked if he’d had to share his room. _“Of course not, buddy.” Promised Qrow. “We’ve got daddy’s military days money.”_

Clover laughed fondly at the memory. Years of dating and retirement from Hunting had done wonders for Qrow’s self-esteem and mental health. He had mellowed down to a point his nieces often admitted to not even recognizing the man (in the best way possible). Still, he never lost his witty and sarcastic comments.

“What’s so funny?” asked Qrow

“Nothing, my love. Are we there yet?”

“Are you twelve ?” Silence. Qrow sighing. “About 10 minutes.”

They had filled papers for adoption as soon as the conversation about having another child was over. Living in Patch, there wasn’t a lot of orphanage, but Clover knew Qrow would never move. When they were finally able to leave Atlas after helping the General re-building the city, Qrow had expressed that he wanted to live in Patch. Ruby and Yang had left home long ago (Yang even ended up marrying Blake before Clover could even ask for Qrow’s hand) and Qrow didn’t like leaving Taiyang alone on the island. Granted, all of them had remained in Vale, but it was still a big difference for Taiyang who, alone in his big house, no longer had anyone to wait for.

_“I owe him that much, Clover. I wasn’t a good brother to him and he’s been alone for too long. He says he’s fine but I know Tai loves being around other people. I want to be there for him.”_

So they had found a nice house in Patch, a five-minute drive from Taiyang’s house who had expressed his happiness with that decision by crushing them both into one of the strongest hug Clover had ever experienced. The man definitely knew how to use his muscles. He had been very helpful too, helping them move in (him and the kids who really weren’t kids anymore, not even Oscar) and babysitting for Ciel (who adored his Uncle Tai) when Qrow was at Signal teaching and Clover was working at the weapon shop he owned.

_“Besides,” thought Clover. “Patch is a really nice place to raise a family.”_

A few minutes later, Qrow parked in front of the orphanage.

“Alright, we’re here. Let’s take the little thing home.” 

Clover got out of the car and tried his best to ignore the knots in his stomach. Reading his husband’s nervousness, Qrow took his hand and led the way to the door, making sure to keep Ciel in front of him. The boy had refused to put down his book without finishing his chapter first and was currently walking and reading at the same time. A perfect setup for a disaster.

They entered the orphanage and the couple was pleased to be met with quite a clean and tidy place, much more adapted to children than the one Ciel used to live in. Clover glanced at his son and saw him clinging to his now-closed book, his body-language screaming stress. Wordlessly, Clover put a hand in his dark hair and stroke the young boy’s head. His days as an orphan were long gone now, but some of the trauma remained and Clover knew no amount of cuddling or chocolate chips cookies (Summer Rose’s receipt. Tai and Qrow deemed any other as unworthy) could erase what the young boy had been through.

A young lady wearing a very dirty pink apron suddenly appeared and upon seeing them, offered them a kind smile.

“The Ebi family, I presume ?”

“Huuuuh, yes ?” answered Qrow, clearly taken aback by the worker knowing who they were. She wasn’t the middle-aged man who helped them get the adoption finalized. 

“Wonderful! We’ve been waiting for you, we’re so excited that you’re taking Gaia home!”

“So are we.” Assured Clover, taking his husband’s hand. “Can we go see her? We’ve only seen pictures and a couple of videos so far.”

“Of course! Follow me!”

Entering the big room where all the children were currently playing, Qrow and Clover instantly tried to spot the little one year old they would be bringing home.

“She’s there.” Suddenly said Ciel, pointing at a baby surrounded by stuffed animals under the very careful watch of another worker. “That’s her, isn’t it?”

“It sure is, buddy.” smiled Qrow.

🍀🍀🍀🍀

It was almost night-time when the four members of the Ebi family finally went back to the car. Meeting Gaia had been a quiet ordeal, mostly because the little brown-haired girl never made a sound. The caretakers weren’t too worried as she was still very young. She had been very shy upon seeing two grown men sitting next to her and wouldn’t let go of her water-horse plushie. Clover and Qrow had been talking and smiling at her for almost fifteen minutes before Ciel crouched next to her and said hello. A couple of minutes later, she was in his lap, trying to grasp at the book he had been holding.

“Great.” Had said Qrow, rolling his eyes in a playful way. “She’s already picking favourites.”

Once she finally got comfortable letting the two adults touching her, they had played with her for a few hours before Clover went to pick up all her belongings. It wasn’t much. She was very young and had been abandoned a long time ago. But Clover couldn’t bring himself to separating her from everything she had, even if her baby brain most likely wouldn’t have registered losing an old set of clothing anyway. 

Leaving the orphanage had been easy. Gaia had fussed a little at being picked up and taken outside but otherwise had been satisfied with wrapping her little hands in Clover’s shirt. Getting in the car… hadn’t been easy. 

“Clover, we’re gonna have to get her home at some point.”

“Five more minutes.”

“Daddy please put her in the seat, I want to go home.”

“Can you really blame a father for wanting to cuddle his daughter a bit longer?”

“You’ll be able to cuddle her for the years to come in our house. As in, not outside the car, two hours away from where we live.”

“…fine.” Admitting defeat, Clover finally put Gaia in her baby seat, next to her brother and climbed in the front.

“You’re exhausting.” Smiled Qrow.

“Hey,” protested Clover. “You already got to raise two little girls, this is my first time and I really like it so far.”

“Yeah yeah. Just wait until she throws food at you. I almost lost an eye trying to get Yang to eat spinach.”

🍀🍀🍀🍀

It was dark when they finally arrived home. They had ended up stopping at a restaurant for dinner, celebrating the special event (Qrow had absolutely refused to help feed Gaia, claiming Clover shouldn’t have laughed that hard about his spinach story. Thankfully the little girl had been very calm, maybe still a bit shy.) Now, Clover and Qrow were carrying their two children inside the house, not having the heart to wake them up from their nap. Opening the door, they heard a loud thud coming from the living-room and soon enough, Cookie was purring and rubbing all other their legs. Being a very affectionate cat, she didn’t like being left alone for too long. 

“Stop complaining, we’re here now” whispered Clover with a smile, crouching to pet her ginger head of fur, very careful of not waking up the little girl propped on his hip.

“I’ll put Ciel in his room. Change Gaia’s clothes and we can put her to bed too.”

Nodding, Clover dropped the bad that was hanging on his other shoulder and went to take a step forward, only to realize. He had no idea what he was doing. He didn’t know anything about kids. He had read a few dozen books about parenthood (Qrow laughed at him for that) and he had started to feel like he had the basic knowledge. But now, with his daughter warm and asleep in his arms, his brain refused to cooperate. Oh brothers.

Almost an hour later, Clover had collapsed in bed, closing his eyes as he heard his husband flop by his side. Gaia was sleeping soundly in her room, Ciel was too and the two adults had fed the cat and took a shower. And Clover was exhausted.

“You know it’s just a sneak peek of what’s to come, right ? We have a lot of work to do.”

Cracking an eye open, Clover took one look at his husband and felt himself fall in love all other again. His hair was as messy as it could be, his skin was still flushed from the shower and he was wearing a white shirt that looked way too good on him. He was resting his head on his arm, eyes closed but a smile on his face.

“I’m not afraid. Raising a family with you hardly sounds like work.”

Qrow let out a laugh. “You have no idea, Lucky Charm.”

“Well it’s a good thing I have you then.”

“Yeah. Just your luck.”

🍀🍀🍀🍀

The following weeks had been exhausting but Clover quickly found that he didn’t mind this exhaustion. Both Qrow and him were on parental leave so they had all the time in the world to take care of their family. They had gone shopping for Gaia, letting the little girl pick out the colours of her clothes and sheets by touching her preference and making her parents internally melt with the little baby noise she would constantly give them. Taiyang had come over a few times already to give some time to Qrow and Clover to just go on dates and Ciel helped with chores when he wasn’t in school. 

When it came to taking care of Gaia, Clover found out that he was, in fact, completely helpless and relied on his husband for any types of “firsts”. Whether it was about food, hygiene or basic care, Clover was utterly lost, something Qrow loved to laugh about. 

“Stop laughing Qrow Ebi! You’ve raised your nieces but the youngest kid I’ve ever taken care of was Marrow and he was old enough to know not to crap his pants!”

Of course, that only made the shapeshifter laugh harder.

But despite everything, Gaia was a beautiful and healthy little girl. So who cared if even their 11 year-old son had less trouble than him getting her in the bath. It meant nothing.

And Clover was learning. He was reading his parenthood books again, watching Qrow interact with their daughter, asking Taiyang for stories about raising his girls (from that, Clover got a few stories of Qrow’s failed attempt at being an uncle and Clover was delighted. The teasing was becoming a bit too much of a one-way road for his comfort.) and simply, spending time with the little girl.

Clover was learning. And looking at Qrow softly singing to their daughter, Ciel by his side, he realized that he couldn’t wait to learn more.

**Author's Note:**

> I believe Clover to be great with kids, but helpless with babies. It's okay tho, his husband and son are here! (Ciel and Gaia don't really have cool origin backstories for their names, I just like it!)  
> Thank you for reading and see you tomorrow!


End file.
